Driving is quicker than flying in Ireland!

ongarboy

I know there has been much talk about how the railways have become uncompetitive since the motorway network was completed in 2010 in that you can drive from one destination to another faster than taking the train.

I believe that the same can now apply for flying. Last Tuesday I left my house in North West Dublin at 5pm and was in my house in Tralee in Co Kerry (approx 200 miles drive) at 8:15pm taking a total of 3 hours 15 mins. Granted, I did not stop at all along the way. I also kept to the speed limit at all times. I figured if I was to fly from Dublin to Kerry airport it would take just as long.

Allow 30 minutes to get to Dublin Airport if you have a car (longer if using public transport)
Allow 15 minutes to get from long term car park to airport via shuttle bus.
Allow 60 minutes to check in/go through security/get to your gate. I would always give myself 90 mins in the event of hold ups/queues etc
Allow 45 minutes flying time.
Allow 15 minutes to depart plane/await pick up etc - longer if waiting for checked in luggage.
Allow at least 15 minutes to drive to nearest population centres (Tralee or Killarney or further afield).
That equates to 3 hours which I'm underestimating as many people may live further than 30 minutes from Dublin Airport or regional airport.

Would it be fair to say this applies to the other Irish airports also? I know Ryanair cited this as a reason why they pulled out of Cork and Kerry airports.

maygitchell

ongarboy wrote: »

I know there has been much talk about how the railways have become uncompetitive since the motorway network was completed in 2010 in that you can drive from one destination to another faster than taking the train.

I believe that the same can now apply for flying. Last Tuesday I left my house in North West Dublin at 5pm and was in my house in Tralee in Co Kerry (approx 200 miles drive) at 8:15pm taking a total of 3 hours 15 mins. Granted, I did not stop at all along the way. I also kept to the speed limit at all times. I figured if I was to fly from Dublin to Kerry airport it would take just as long.

Allow 30 minutes to get to Dublin Airport if you have a car (longer if using public transport)
Allow 15 minutes to get from long term car park to airport via shuttle bus.
Allow 60 minutes to check in/go through security/get to your gate. I would always give myself 90 mins in the event of hold ups/queues etc
Allow 45 minutes flying time.
Allow 15 minutes to depart plane/await pick up etc - longer if waiting for checked in luggage.
Allow at least 15 minutes to drive to nearest population centres (Tralee or Killarney or further afield).
That equates to 3 hours which I'm underestimating as many people may live further than 30 minutes from Dublin Airport or regional airport.

Would it be fair to say this applies to the other Irish airports also? I know Ryanair cited this as a reason why they pulled out of Cork and Kerry airports.

Its the pain and hassle my boy you forgot to factor in!

Cookie_Monster

Flying within Ireland doesn't make sense at all given the stupid amount of time you need to waste in airports. I'm sure there are many other countries where the same holds true.



Even here it took me 4.5hrs to drive from Auckland to New Plymouth, a 45 min flight, plus another 2 hours to get to airport and check in and wait, plus another 30 mins in NP airport to get everything, plus wait for the bus to turn up plus the 15 mins trip to city plus the hassle of dragging lots of bags all over the place. so only an hours diff of which 30 of that was a stop for some food.

Not to mention the cost of flying either. At least with trains you can get a set of seats with a table, can bring a few drinks and food without it being a security risk and have a relaxing journey without adverts and redundant safety messages being blasted at you throughout the journey.

bk

ongarboy wrote: »

Allow 60 minutes to check in/go through security/get to your gate. I would always give myself 90 mins in the event of hold ups/queues etc

I know people who regularly fly Cork to Dublin who arrive at the airport just 15 minutes before departure.

If you check in online, don't have checked luggage and have properly organised carry on, you really can usually get through security fast.

As regular users they know what flights will normally be hit by lots of people on other routes.

They also normally get taxi to and from the airport thus eliminating any parking times.

Doing it this way, business travelers, can certainly do it faster then by car.

But the cost probably makes it not worth it for normal travelers.

ongarboy wrote: »

Would it be fair to say this applies to the other Irish airports also? I know Ryanair cited this as a reason why they pulled out of Cork and Kerry airports.

It has nothing to do with the Ryanair pull out.

Ryanair pulled out as they succeeded in hobbling Aer Arann. Aer Arann were expaning and were lokking like they might emerge as a competitor to Ryanair on Irish to UK flights.

So Ryanair did everything possible to destroy Aer Arann. Ryanair put 4 flights a day between Cork and Dublin using almost empty 737's.

I don't know if it is true, but I once heard a pilot tell me that the Ryanair's 737's used more fuel just taxiing in Cork and Dublin airports then Aer Arann used for the whole flight using their much smaller aircraft.

Aer Arann due to using smaller more fuel efficient planes, were running a profitable route. Then Ryanair came along with their fuel drinking 737's. The Ryanair flights could never be profitable with these type of aircraft and loadings. But that wasn't the point, the point was to hurt Aer Arann and they successfully did that and now they are pulling out that the damage was done.

n97 mini

bk wrote: »

Aer Arann due to using smaller more fuel efficient planes, were running a profitable route.

I think that's slightly romantic. One of Aer Arann's own chiefs admitted they were addicted to PSO money, which like all good things had to come to an end.

BenShermin

n97 mini wrote: »

I think that's slightly romantic. One of Aer Arann's own chiefs admitted they were addicted to PSO money, which like all good things had to come to an end.

This wasn't true for the Cork route though as it's not a PSO.

n97 mini

BenShermin wrote: »

This wasn't true for the Cork route though as it's not a PSO.

No, but I'm sure Aer Arann were able to cross-subsidise it with PSO money from all the other routes that were.

blah

Isn't there a separate security queue/entrance for local flights in Dublin airport? That should easily shave off 30 mins, of course you still have to walk to Pier D, add an extra couple of hours for that.

Chris_5339762

bk wrote: »

I don't know if it is true, but I once heard a pilot tell me that the Ryanair's 737's used more fuel just taxiing in Cork and Dublin airports then Aer Arann used for the whole flight using their much smaller aircraft.

Methinks chinese whispers have been played.

The story is that a 747 uses up more fuel taxiing than an Aer Arann plane uses flying an entire sector (whatever that is)

LaFlammeRouge

ongarboy wrote: »

I know there has been much talk about how the railways have become uncompetitive since the motorway network was completed in 2010 in that you can drive from one destination to another faster than taking the train.


Allow 30 minutes to get to Dublin Airport if you have a car (longer if using public transport)
Allow 15 minutes to get from long term car park to airport via shuttle bus.
Allow 60 minutes to check in/go through security/get to your gate. I would always give myself 90 mins in the event of hold ups/queues etc
Allow 45 minutes flying time.
Allow 15 minutes to depart plane/await pick up etc - longer if waiting for checked in luggage.
Allow at least 15 minutes to drive to nearest population centres (Tralee or Killarney or further afield).
That equates to 3 hours which I'm underestimating as many people may live further than 30 minutes from Dublin Airport or regional airport.

Would it be fair to say this applies to the other Irish airports also? I know Ryanair cited this as a reason why they pulled out of Cork and Kerry airports.

Nope flying is quicker. RTÉ Prime Time tested this out a couple of months ago. A Top Gear style race from RTÉ studios in D4 to Galway city between driving and flying (during the morning rush hour). Flying won easily.

BenShermin

ongarboy wrote: »

Allow 60 minutes to check in/go through security/get to your gate. I would always give myself 90 mins in the event of hold ups/queues etc

:rolleyes: Don't know why anybody would do this when there's a dedicated fast-track lane for domestic passengers at security in Dublin Airport! You basically skip any security queue via this lane.

BenShermin

n97 mini wrote: »

No, but I'm sure Aer Arann were able to cross-subsidise it with PSO money from all the other routes that were.

And I'm sure that Ryanair were able to cross-subsidise their loss making Cork route with their profitable European routes;).

Chris_5339762

BenShermin wrote: »

:rolleyes: Don't know why anybody would do this when there's a dedicated fast-track lane for domestic passengers at security in Dublin Airport! You basically skip any security queue via this lane.

What they need is a flipping fast track domestic passport control (ie: No control) at T2.

Mister Dread

LaFlammeRouge wrote: »

Nope flying is quicker. RTÉ Prime Time tested this out a couple of months ago. A Top Gear style race from RTÉ studios in D4 to Galway city between driving and flying (during the morning rush hour). Flying won easily.

The test was complete nonsense. I forget the reasons but they were making our that it was way quicker to fly from Donnybrook to Galway. There is no way that is the case for 99% of situations. It's a two hour journey door to door.

Lapin

ongarboy wrote: »

Allow 60 minutes to check in/go through security/get to your gate. I would always give myself 90 mins in the event of hold ups/queues etc.

:eek: 90 mins.

Thats a long time to be hanging around an airport for a domestic flight.

I wouldn't arrive that early for a transatlantic flight.

LaFlammeRouge

Mister Dread wrote: »

The test was complete nonsense. I forget the reasons but they were making our that it was way quicker to fly from Donnybrook to Galway. There is no way that is the case for 99% of situations. It's a two hour journey door to door.

What was your problem with the experiment? It was carried out in rush hour traffic and the presenter had to travel across Dublin at peak traffic to reach Dublin Airport.

Judge for yourself:

http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0623/primetime.html# (starts at 18min mark)

LXFlyer

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

What they need is a flipping fast track domestic passport control (ie: No control) at T2.

There are no domestic flights serving T2.

n97 mini

BenShermin wrote: »

And I'm sure that Ryanair were able to cross-subsidise their loss making Cork route with their profitable European routes;).

Nothing wrong with being addicted to money, as long as it's not coming out of the tax-payers' pocket.